Xi Jinping’s ongoing consolidation of control through anti-corruption and loyalty investigations has driven repeated high-level removals from the People’s Liberation Army and Communist Party structures in 2026. In January, investigations targeted Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and Joint Staff Department Chief Liu Zhenli; their formal expulsion from the party and military was confirmed by the Politburo in September. Earlier purges removed other CMC members including He Weidong and Miao Hua, along with Politburo member Ma Xingrui, affecting over 100 senior officers since 2023 and leaving the CMC with only one uniformed member besides Xi. Analysts link the campaign to eliminating factional networks and perceived disloyalty ahead of the October Fifth Plenum and the 2027 Party Congress. A late-September directive emphasized risk elimination across security organs, signaling continued scrutiny of military and party elites through year-end.